Arsalan owner’s son held for accident: Car caught speeding 43 times in 9 months

The Jaguar car allegedly being driven by Arsalan Parvez, 22, son of the owner of Arsalan, a Kolkata-based restaurant chain, was speeding at 100-120 km per hour before it was involved in the accident that left two people dead on Friday night, initial investigation has revealed.

Kolkata Traffic Police s database shows that the same vehicle was caught by speed guns on 43 occasions over the last nine months, according to police sources. It is also learnt that between November 2018 and July 12 this year, the car has accrued as many as 48 citation cases .

Police sources said scrutiny of CCTV footage near the accident site revealed the car had jumped red lights on Russel Street, Middleton Street, Jawaharlal Nehru Road and Theatre Road before the accident. It is also learnt that a team of experts and technicians from Jaguar may soon examine the vehicle to retrieve data.

The case, earlier being investigated by the Fatal Squad of Kolkata Police, was on Monday handed over to the homicide pision of the Detective Department of Kolkata s Lalbazar Police. While the police s fatal squad usually investigates serious road accident cases involving deaths, a senior police officer, explaining why the probe was transferred, said, There are many angles in the case which needs to be probed in detail. It is not a regular accident case.

Parvez was arrested on Saturday after the Jaguar he was allegedly driving at very high speed crashed into a Mercedes the night before. The Mercedez car subsequently hit a traffic kiosk, where a group of three Bangladeshi tourists, who were waiting there trying to save themselves from a downpour, took the full impact. Two of the tourists were killed and the third, along with occupants of the Mercedes, were injured.

Parvez is in police custody until August 29. He had left home at 11.30 pm on Friday, and the police are trying to find out who else was with him, and in what condition the accident took place, according to officials.

His family has claimed that the 22-year-old was not on a night out and was instead returning to the family s home in Beck Bagan after checking accounts at the family-owned restaurant s Taratala branch. His family also told the police that Patvez lost control of the car following a mechanical fault.